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Ken Jennings
Ken Jennings (born on May 23, 1974) is a game show contestant. He is most notable for his record-setting streak of 74 wins on Jeopardy!. The streak Before the 20th season premiere in 2003, champions had to retire after winning five games. To celebrate the show's 20th season, the producers changed that rule, allowing champions to continue playing until they were defeated. On June 2, 2004, Ken Jennings's first episode aired. He won the game, and proceeded to win all the remaining games during that season. By the end of Season 20, Jennings had accumulated 38 wins. In the process, he broke the single-day winnings record with a $75,000 score in the final game of Season 20. Jennings returned to begin Season 21. He proceeded to win 36 more games. After the November 29, 2004 show, he had won 74 games for a total of $2,520,700. The downfall During a summer taping, reports from audience members claimed that Jennings had lost during a Season 21 show, while trying for his 75th consecutive win.http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/features/20040908-2052-ca-tv-jeopardy.html These rumors circulated as the summer and fall of 2004 progressed. However, due to the official forum's no-spoiler policy, the rumor became known as "That Which Must Not Be Mentioned." The original date for Jennings's loss was November 9, 2004. However, the show's producers tried to mitigate the effects of the spoiler. First, they dubbed out Johnny Gilbert's announcement of the number of games won during games 49 through 73. Second, the show interspersed special weeks into Jennings's run. But fans quickly adjusted, and it became known that "D-Day" would be November 30. On November 26, a Georgia station accidentally aired the Final Jeopardy! round from Jennings's last show. Over the weekend, audio clips of that fateful Final Jeopardy! circulated over the internet. On November 30, Ken Jennings led challenger Nancy Zerg by $14,400 to $10,000, but lost in Final Jeopardy!. Ken's other challenger, David Hankins, finished Double Jeopardy! at -$2,800 and received $1,000 in third place cash, but was not allowed to compete in Final Jeopardy!. The Final Jeopardy! answer in the category of BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY was the following: "Most of this firm's 70,000 seasonal white-collar employees work only 4 months a year." Zerg correctly questioned, "What is H&R Block" and gained $4,401 to move to $14,401. Jennings, however, said "What is FedEx?", losing $5,601 and finishing in second place at $8,799. With the $2,000 second-place cash added to his total, he left with a total of $2,522,700. Aftermath *On the December 1 episode of Jeopardy!, Jennings appeared at the beginning for a recap of the game show records he had broken or tied during his streak. *Jennings was also the central figure in a game show pilot for Comedy Central, Ken Jennings vs. the Rest of the World. However, that pilot was not picked up. *In 2006, Jennings was a member of the mob on 1 vs. 100. He was eliminated when he did not know what color the number 1 was on a roulette wheel. *That same year, he hosted a Minnesota School Quiz show called Face-Off Minnesota. *Jennings was also the champion on another game show that same year, Grand Slam. He won the $100,000 grand prize. *He also appeared on Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?, winning $500,000. Had he gone for the Million Dollar Question, he would've won the million. *Ken appeared in a 2005 commercial for Allstate featuring actor Dennis Haysbert, proving to him how over 1 million drivers switched to Allstate last year with the question "Would a million people switch to Allstate if it was more expensive?", responding with "What is no way?". *In 2005, University Games released "Can You Beat Ken?". *He won the 2005 Ultimate Tournament of Champions second-place prize of $500,000, the 2011 IBM challenge second-place prize of $300,000, and the 2014 Battle of the Decades Tournament of Champions second-place prize of $100,000; all three opposite Brad Rutter. His all-time earnings on Jeopardy! total $3,522,700. *On November 14 & November 17, 2014, Ken Jennings walked away with $100,000, in Who Wants To Be a Millionaire. *Ken appeared as the first contestant on the season two premiere episode of 500 Questions, but did not add anything to his total. *Ken appeared on the new GSN quiz show, Best Ever Trivia Show. *He appeared in the 2019 All-Star Games and split the $300,000 second-place prize with teammates Matt Jackson (13-time winner from 2014) and Monica Thieu (2012 College Championship winner). As before, he was beaten by Brad Rutter, who split the $1 million top prize with teammates David Madden (19-time winner from 2005) and Larissa Kelly (6-time winner from 2008). *In January 2020, Ken beat Brad Rutter and James Holzhauer in the primetime special Jeopardy: The Greatest of All Time, winning a million dollars. Cumulative Total Out of the totals Jennings won on Jeopardy! and Grand Slam, he won a grand total of $3,272,700. Shows appeared *''Jeopardy!'' *''Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?'' *''1 vs. 100'' *''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' *''Cover Story: Game Show Super Contestants'' *''Best Ever Trivia Show'' Category:Hosts Category:Contestants Category:People Category:1974 Births Category:Jeopardy!